Climate – Page 3 – Sustainability & Environment @ OWU

Speaker: Elli Sparks, Citizens’ Climate Lobby, Wednesday, October 30th at Noon

Please mark your calendars for Wednesday, October 30th at 12–1pm in the GIS Lab (Science Center Room 207), if you are interested in learning more about legislative political action, climate advocacy, and citizen lobbying from the Field Development Director of Citizens’ Climate Lobby, Elli Sparks. (There will be food!)

Citizens’ Climate Lobby (CCL) is an international nonprofit focused on building support in Congress for a national bipartisan solution to climate change and increasing civic engagement. They have recently:

Successfully worked with Congress to introduce (H.R. 763) The Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act of 2019. CCL supports this bill, and is working towards its re-introduction in the Senate, and its passage through Congress.
Instrumental in establishing the House Climate Solutions Caucus, a bipartisan group in the US House of Representatives which will explore policy options that address the impacts, causes, and challenges of our changing climate.
Partnered with California state legislature to pass a resolution calling on the federal government to enact Carbon Fee and Dividend nationwide.

Elli is committed to the success of CCL volunteers working to start new chapters in communities across the United States. She hosts CCL’s weekly Introductory Calls and trains volunteers around the world to lead Climate Advocate Training Workshop; she also works closely with volunteers in coal and agricultural communities, ensuring that all voices find a place at the solutions table–a passion founded on her own family roots in Appalachia and rural Maryland.

Elli’s work is informed by her fifteen years in nonprofit management and by her founding and leadership of Virginia’s first CCL chapter, where she gained experience in nearly every volunteer role. She lives on a family farm in rural Virginia, where she rotates her cattle through the pasture to store carbon in soil and plants.

Please do try to come! It’s a great opportunity to find your voice and political will for climate solutions. We also have a chapter at OWU if you want to stay involved!

Thanks,

Mahnoor Ansari,

Campus Leader, CCL OWU

2nd Annual Delaware Run Watershed Walk: September 22, 2019

Mostly hidden and invisible, Delaware Run weaves itself through the fabric of the city and is often overlooked. The Watershed Walk on Sept. 22, 2019, will shed light on this important natural resource.

2nd Annual Delaware Run Watershed Walk: September 22, 2019

RSVP for this FREE event at Eventbright

Bring rubber boots or old shoes (and a towel for drying off)

Presented by the Boardman Arts Park and the Central Ohio Communities Project

When: September 22, 2019

1:00 p.m.-3:00 p.m.: Choices for level of involvement: a “short walk” (45 minutes), or a longer walk (90+ minutes), with 3-4 entry or exit points. Led by Local naturalists, historians, MAD Scientist Associates and others.

3:00 p.m.-4:30 p.m.: creation of a “Watershed mural”, Badminton and Bocce Ball, upcycle art creation, and other “earth art and sports” (non-fossil fuel fun!)

Mostly hidden and invisible, Delaware Run weaves itself through the fabric of the city and is often overlooked. The Watershed Walk on Sept. 22, 2019 will shed light on this important natural resource.

Participants can choose to do a deep exploration of the run or shorter jaunts along its course.

Local scientists and experts will lead our walks and will explore the history, ecology and geologic features of the stream scavenger hunt style. After the walks, we will meet at the Boardman Arts Park to enjoy refreshments, music and educational programming about the nature nearby.

Talk: Thurs., Oct. 25 (7-9 pm): Lonnie Thompson “Past and Contemporary Climate Change: The Evidence, People, and Our Options”

Source

World-famous OSU researcher Lonnie G. Thompson is coming to Delaware this October.

He will speak on “Past and Contemporary Climate Change: The Evidence, People, and Our Options” on Thurs., Oct. 25 (7-9 pm) at the Andrews House, 39 W. Winter St. The event is sponsored by the Central Ohio Communities Project, Sustainable Delaware Ohio & the Delaware Chapter of the Citizens’ Climate Lobby.

Paleoclimatologist Thompson is best known for drilling and analyzing ice cores from ice caps and mountain glaciers in all continents, including in the tropical areas. Miles of his ice cores are stored at OSU where Thompson works at the Byrd Polar Research Center. Closely observing and measuring ice caps and glaciers around the world, Thompson noticed they were steadily retreating and even vanishing. Ice that was thousands of years old has now disappeared. These variations were far outside normal weather and climate variability and served as proof that the world’s climate is indeed warming.

Thompson has written 165 papers (according to Wikipedia) and received countless grants, awards, and honors. In 2008, Time Magazine named him as one of the “Heroes of the Environment.” A fellow researcher, Mark Bowen, published a book on Lonnie Thompson in 2005, called Thin Ice: Unlocking the Secrets of Climate in the World’s Highest Mountains.

Born in 1948, Thompson is now 70. After a successful heart transplant in 2012, which was national front-page news, he appears to be healthy and active again. He and his wife, Ellen Mosley-Thompson, also a paleoclimatologist, live in Clintonville.

Campus Talk! Thurs. Sept. 20: Dr. Timothy Hawthorne, OWU 2003 “The Power of People in Science: Exploring Community-Based Uses of Maps, Apps and Drones”

Above: Tim Hawthorne (left) and OWU Geography major Lucas Farmer on a drone survey in Belize. Credit: Citizen Science GIS

Dr. Timothy Hawthorne OWU 2003, University of Central Florida

“The Power of People in Science: Exploring Community-Based Uses of Maps, Apps and Drones”

Thursday, September 20  at 4:10 p.m. in Science Center 163

Abstract: The community is where mutually beneficial research and education outcomes are discovered together through the power of citizen science, maps, apps, and drones. Our work through Citizen Science GIS seeks to engage academics and community organizations/residents in shared knowledge production focused on community-engaged research that benefits real-world communities. In this talk, we unravel the potential of engaging communities and science in meaningful collaboration. We will highlight opportunities to use interactive and visual mapping technologies to share the spatial stories and knowledge of community members around the world to understand some of the most pressing challenges in coastal communities.

Biography: Timothy L. Hawthorne is a 2003 Ohio Wesleyan University alumnus. He is currently an Assistant Professor of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in the Department of Sociology at University of Central Florida and the State of Florida Geography Steward with National Geographic. He earned his Ph.D. in geography in 2010 from The Ohio State University. He is a broadly trained human geographer with deep interests in citizen science GIS, community geography, qualitative GIS, and critical GIS. Professor Hawthorne is Principal Investigator of the Citizen Science GIS Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Site in Orlando and Belize, funded by the National Science Foundation. He also is an associate editor for both the Journal of Geography and The International Journal of Applied Geospatial Research.

Campus Event: Climate Change: What We Know, and What We Can Do

A free, day-long meeting about earth’s climate at Ohio Wesleyan, Saturday, March 31, 2018

Free: Please RSVP here for the event next weekend.

Looking forward to seeing you all there!

Climate Change: What We Know, and What We Can Do

Saturday, 31 March 2018

2^nd and 3^rd Floors of Merrick Hall

Ohio Wesleyan University

Summary: The Anthropocene, the era in which humans have become the dominating factor to the global climate, is a period in the geologic history. For decades now, the public has heard of the phrases ‘global warming’ and ‘climate change.’ What continues to remain a challenge is the public’s understanding of the processes associated with the current global phenomenon. This workshop, supported by the Mellon Foundation, is an attempt to bring together climate scientists, industry, the public, and our academic institutions into one space to communicate what it means to be living in the Anthropocene. What do we know about it and what can we do about it? We seek to build long-term collaborations and help prepare a new generation of community members and scholars to address these concerns.

Preliminary Schedule

9:00-9:30 Check-in

9:30-9:45 Opening Remarks

9:45 – 11:15 Short Talks (with break)

11:15 – noon Keynote Speaker: Dr. Christopher Karmosky, SUNY Oneonta

Noon – 1:00 Lunch

1:00 – 3:30 Workshops

3:30 – 4:00 Closing Remarks

We are looking for 1 – 2 persons to volunteer to be moderators of the short workshop groups (approximately 6). The idea here is for people to gather by interest and work on defining an agenda or outcome of the workshop. Moderators would be tasked with taking notes and making sure the group is on task. There will be modest financial compensation for moderators.

Please RSVP here ASAP. If you have any question, feel free to ask Dustin (dsbraden@owu.edu) or Nathan (nsamador@owu.edu).

OWU’s ‘Still In’ Paris Climate Agreement

President Rock Jones, Ph.D., signed the document June 5, making Ohio Wesleyan one of 183 colleges and universities to endorse the proclamation. “We Are Still In” also has been signed by representatives from 125 cities and nine states, and by 902 businesses and investors.

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University Among Those Supporting Paris Climate Agreement

There’s a familiar name among the 1,219 who signed the “We Are Still In” document in support of the Paris Agreement and its efforts to combat climate change.

“It is imperative that the world know that in the U.S., the actors that will provide the leadership necessary to meet our Paris commitment are found in city halls, state capitals, colleges and universities, investors and businesses,” the document states. “Together, we will remain actively engaged with the international community as part of the global effort to hold warming to well below 2℃ and to accelerate the transition to a clean energy economy that will benefit our security, prosperity, and health.”

There are many reasons for Ohio Wesleyan to sign the document, Jones said. Perhaps most notable is the pioneering work of F. Sherwood Rowland, Ph.D., a 1948 OWU graduate.

A Delaware native, Rowland earned the 1995 Nobel Prize in chemistry for his work studying chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). His research led to significant discoveries in the field, including that chemicals in aerosol sprays, air conditioners and foam insulation were damaging the oxygen layer surrounding the earth’s atmosphere.

At a White House climate change roundtable in 1997, Rowland spoke passionately on behalf of scientists concerned about global warming: “Isn’t it a responsibility of scientists, if you believe that you have found something that can affect the environment, isn’t it your responsibility to do something about it, enough so that action actually takes place? If not us,” Rowland said, “who? If not now, when?”

Woodrow W. Clark II, Ph.D., a 1967 Ohio Wesleyan alumnus, also made an impact through his efforts to protect the environment as one of 30 members of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The IPCC was a co-recipient of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize, along with former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, for the film “An Inconvenient Truth.”

The spirit of “We Are Still In” also connects well with Ohio Wesleyan’s academic program and the April announcement that it was creating an Environment and Sustainability Program with a new environmental science major this fall, Jones said.

The Environment and Sustainability Program will include the collaboration of nearly 20 Ohio Wesleyan faculty members who specialize in the natural sciences, social sciences, arts, and humanities. One of the program’s highlights its innovative “Conversations: Toward a Sustainable Future” course. Students will take the course twice – once as newly declared environmental science majors and once as seniors in the program – to provide both a cornerstone and capstone for their study of ecological issues.

In addition, Jones said, Ohio Wesleyan’s signature Sagan National Colloquiumlecture series also has spent a semester examining global warming.

“In 2013, the entire campus focused attention on the ‘Interdisciplinary Impacts of Climate Change’ through the Sagan National Colloquium,” Jones said. “The Colloquium’s founding vision of connecting the liberal arts with civic arts – studying a topic and taking action in response to that study – is reflected in our signing of the ‘We Are Still In’ document.”

Learn more about the “We Are Still In” initiative at http://wearestillin.com.

Heart of Ohio March for Climate | Delaware, Ohio | Saturday April 29, 2017

Gathering people from everywhere in the heart of Ohio to call on Congress, our State and Local governments to take action on climate.

Heart of Ohio March for Climate

For Climate, Health and Jobs

Delaware, Ohio – Saturday April 29, 2017

Gather 9:45 – 10am at Bicentennial Park (next to Wilber Bills Fire Station)

March to Delaware County Courthouse (on sidewalks)

11:00am – Noon: Rally and program at the Courthouse

Gathering people from everywhere in the heart of Ohio to call on Congress, our State and Local governments to take action on climate.

This march is nonpartisan, open to those who are concerned about solving climate change. All are welcome. This march will be respectful of the elected officials and community leaders from across the political spectrum because these are people who are crucial in protecting the earth’s climate. We invite them to join us.

OWU Talk: Translocal Relations and Climate Change in East Asia: March 28

Translocal Relations and Climate Change in East Asia

Tuesday, March 28 — 7:00 p.m. — Merrick Hall 301 Ohio Wesleyan University

Guest Lecturer: Taedong Lee

Why do local governments become actively engaged in the issue of global climate change? How do global factors influence local governments’ choices, policies, and interactions? These questions are puzzling in that local governments have been regarded as public service providers in the domestic arena; and studies on cities and climate change have primarily focused on domestic drivers to explain local governments’ climate change policies. In this talk, I discuss translocal relations of cities that have made an international effort to collectively tackle climate change. Compared to state-centric terms, inter-national or trans-national relations, trans-local relations look at policies, politics, and interactions of local governments in the globalized world. Using the framework of translocal relations, I argue that the level of global cityness and local political attributes are primary driving factors for local governments’ engagement in global climate governance in Asia as well as around the world.

Taedong Lee is associate professor at the Department of Political Science and International Relations at Yonsei University, Seoul. He received his Ph.D. at University of Washington, Seattle and was an assistant professor at the City University of Hong Kong from 2010 to 2013. His areas of research include global and sub-national environmental politics and policy, NGO politics, and social network analysis. Professor Lee recently published his book, Global Cities and Climate Change: Translocal Relations of Environmental Governance (Routledge, 2015). His articles have appeared in journals including Policy Sciences, Review of Policy Research, Journal of Cleaner Production, Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis, Policy Studies Journal, Energy Policy, and Global Environmental Politics.

Lecture is free and open to the public. Sponsored by the East Asian Studies Program, the Departments of Politics and Government and Sociology/ Anthropology, and the Office of the Provost.

taedong-lee-lecture-poster

Climate Organizing Fellows

NextGen Climate is currently seeking detail oriented and highly motivated students to join our team in key states as stipend Fellows through the 2016 General Election.

OHIO: Apply Here

SUMMARY: NextGen Climate is currently seeking detail oriented and highly motivated students to join our team in key states as stipend Fellows through the 2016 General Election. Fellows will be responsible for assisting Field Organizers managing volunteer efforts and voter registration/Get Out The Vote activities on key college campuses.

NextGen Climate is seeking Fellows who can begin immediately and work with NextGen Climate through the election in November 2016.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

Developing a volunteer base on target campuses
Effectively recruit volunteers around the 2016 election, climate change, and other political issues pertinent to young voters
Registering voters at on and off-campus events
Utilize social and earned media to recruit volunteers and promote events
Use voter database and online organizing tools
Responsible for voter contact, volunteer recruitment, and event management
Meet all goals and deadlines

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND ABILITIES REQUIRED:

Strong appetite for grassroots organizing and passionate about climate
Excellent organizational skills
Previous campaign experience is plus
Experience using voter databases like VAN is a plus
Ability to adapt rapidly to evolving priorities and deadlines
Driven with a strong work ethic
Act with high integrity and character
Self-motivated and willing to work long hours (including nights and weekends)
Previous climate, energy or environmental issue organizing experience a plus

COMPENSATION:

NextGen Climate offers stipended campaign organizing fellowships for students with both full-time and part time availability.

NextGen Climate is an equal opportunity employer.

ABOUT NEXTGEN CLIMATE:

NextGen Climate is a San Francisco-based environmental advocacy organization. Founded by businessperson and philanthropist Tom Steyer in 2013, we act politically to prevent climate disaster and promote prosperity for all Americans. Working at every level, we are committed to supporting candidates, elected officials, and policymakers across the country that will take bold action on climate change.

Apply Here